A long goodbye

Getting some time to spend with Lucy this summer was so fun. She is turning 12 this August and we sure do miss her. Rob's sister Suzy and brother-in-law Tim have welcomed Lucy into their home and made her part of their family. She lives with two yellow lab cousins that keep her company and kindly encourage her to eat all her dinner as they are held back while Lucy is served first. I know it's an odd thing for a lab to be finicky about food, but for some indescribable reason, that's the way she is.

We had a lot of great beach time. There is no shortage of unique places to eat drink on the Oregon coast. This Tiki bar (below) was the place for coffee and a chat with the owner's parrot named "Gypsy".

Things I love about Oregon.......

Can you tell where Parrish is?

Mr. Green

Problem solver extra-ordinaire

Never mind that I have put my career on hold and now stay home to take care of kids.....there is still some opportunity to do a little technical work at home. Crosswords and soduko can keep your brain sharp.... but I also like to fix things. Make them last longer. Remember my complaint in the last post about old computer that wont read my camera memory card? My frustration turned into determination to find out exactly what was going on and to find out if it could be and easy fix.....or more importantly, a cheap fix. (I am my father's daughter). Just when I was about ready to go out and buy a new piece of hardware that I thought would fix the problem, a burning thought in my head was "let me just check one more thing....."

Eureka! I found out that we had a device plugged into our computer that needed to be turned off in order to read new memory cards, like the one in my camera. I wont go into the not-so-interesting details as to why this was the case. But I will say that solving a problem like this is like winning something.....a little something......maybe a door prize, $20 playing the lottery, or a lucky draw....

So here is the first picture I decided to download because I know all you American's back home might have a laugh at this:



Our friends from Perth brought this back for us. Not only is it amusing that paper doll cutouts of the Obama's are being sold in Australia, but this was the last book available on the shelf, apparently. Parrish immediately starting cutting out the clothes and playing dress-up. Sabrina liked dancing around the house with them. Now they are well loved and unfortunately discarded to the side as sadly what happens to some new toys around here. So our paper Obama dolls are tucked away in some toy box with slightly creased knees and a an article of clothing falling due to overused paper clothing tabs.

A picture tells a thousand words......but not today

I love using pictures as updates on this blog. However, I have lost the ability to load pictures from my camera onto my computer once again. I have learned/realized that my 5 year old PC is apparently too old to read the latest memory cards in my camera that require an new version of USB hardware. No quick software upgrade will help.....so I will go for script and do my best to give you an update on some everyday stuff that is perhaps worth reading.....

Last night we were eating dinner in a cafeteria style food junction that is similar to a food court in a mall. The girls were eating roti prata (dough based flat pancake) and I had some fish curry and briyani rice. Rob wanted to see who couldn't finish their meal first before ordering. Does anyone ever do this? We do this all the time. I'm ok sharing a meal with a child, but sharing a drink is different. I can't tell you how many times I am reminded that once I give my child a drink from my water bottle, it's attack of the floaties. My father used to eat gooey things out of our hands when my sister's and I were little. All of us went through a phase when we insisted on sharing our food after we had squished it in our fingers for a few minutes. My dad obliged. What a saint.......I can't do it.....nor can I share a drink with floaties.

Sabrina and Parrish are really into turtles right now. Especially Sabrina. She has this cute little stuffed turtle named Mr Green and he sleeps with her every night. It never fails that the first thing she asks for when she wakes up is her turtle, "where's turtle?". We have these multi colored Ikea plastic plates and she wants to eat off the green one. She wants the green ribbon and prefers her green dress. Go green!!

Construction

Rob and I think everyday how fortunate we are to have this experience. Our kids are growing in ways we couldn't imagine and Singapore makes it really easy for any foreigner to feel at home. I can find almost anything at a grocery store. I may have to pay top dollar, but if I needed some Nestle toll house morsels or Organic Valley milk or Tillamook cheese, I could find it. People work really hard here and they usually never lose their cool. It's bad form to "lose face". But it is high stress and this is a big city. Cars don't yield to pedestrians, unless you have a child with you but don't count on it. You learn quickly how to drive defensively because if you don't, you will get cut off. People don't seem to mind if you return the same form on the road or the sidewalks. I'm impressed we don't see more road rage to be honest.

There is construction everywhere. You just can't get away from it. I guess there are benefits for a 1st world country to be located in an area where there is several 3rd world countries nearby and businesses can hire foreign workers at a very affordable price. I've taken these pictures that are only one block from our condo (except last pic)......and actually I forgot about the new high rise being built behind us. I thought the last picture was impressive because it shows you the "crane" skyline we see around Marina Bay.

We haven't even been here a year and 4 large malls have been opened off of Orchard Rd (shopping mecca). It is truly and National Sport here in Singapore and something I will never entirely "get". Thankfully there are many recreational areas away from the noise that we can retreat to for a little soul maintenance.

 

 

 

 

Why bother?

A sale in Singapore is something to be seen. They just don't have very many and when they do, it's very comical to me. This sign says, "receive and $8 voucher, with a minimum of $150 spent". So that means you have to come back to the store and spend more money to get your 5% discount. :)